It was great to be back racing in the Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge at the weekend. We’ve had some great success at Donington in previous years and this was one no exception. A very last minute deal enabled us to be on the grid albeit with a twist – back in a Ginetta G20!

The pressure was really on. To come back into a competitive series, with no testing and the driver in an unknown car, and worse still the car had two Championship wins under it’s belt so it was clearly a winner. Would we still be quick enough after all those miles running on slick tyres in the G40′s?

Qualifying couldn’t have gone better if we tried. The two fastest laps that would determine our grid positions were set early on in the session and soon the yellow flags came out as the G40′s hurled themselves at the scenery. With 7 cars off and several badly damaged there were no further opportunities to post a quick lap. We had done it, pole position!

Race 1 saw Stuart make a great start but boxed in behind several of the midfield G40′s into turn 1. As a result the Academy Motorsport G20car of Mark Wania slotted in just in front and began the start of a race long battle. It was neck and neck until lap 5, with the G40 piloted by Kelvin Fletcher splitting the pair. In order to get back on terms with the leader Pearson made a move on Emmerdale actor Fletcher in to the Melbourne Loop and in doing so made contact with Wania and the pair spun. Rejoining in second position (again!) Pearson had his eyes firmly fixed on championship leader Matt Flowers in his privateer car. With one lap to go Pearson made the pass but Flowers put up a real fight and didn’t make it easy. Driver Stuart said “I think I made hard work of that win!”

Race 2 began with a safety car after the Reflex Racing prepared G40 of Luke Davenport was sent spinning into the gravel trap at the Old Hairpin on the opening lap. With neither driver losing or gaining on the restart, the two cars of Wania and Pearson were side by side again with no quarter asked or given. For 15 solid minutes not even the proverbial cigar paper could split the duo but who would come out on top as the two entered the Goddards chicane for the last time? Disaster struck as Wania lost control, clipped Pearson and the two spun. Rejoining 3rd and 4th respectively the pair crossed the line behind Flowers and Brian Murphy in the Orwin car.

Look out for footage on Motors TV and on the SPR YouTube channel in the next few weeks.

Another weekend of ‘British’ summer weather goes by along with another 3 rounds of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge.

The Friday before each event is usually practise day and we were upset to see the rain that we’d been following down the M1 had decided to sit over the Brands Hatch circuit. This meant that the first practise session was done in wet tyres (for the first 10 minutes until the rain stopped!) which meant a quick quick pit-stop for everyone to change on-to slicks so we could head back out on to the drying track for the remaining 20 minutes.

The afternoon session saw a similar weather pattern, meaning the Reflex Racing team got to practise their pit stops as well as their pit-board timing.

Saturday was an action packed day with a qualifying race first thing, followed by midday and afternoon races. We were hampered by a lack of grip in qualifying and we lined up 13^th for Race 1. After negotiating several spinning cars along the way, SPR recorded their first top ten finish since Oulton Park earlier in the year.

The last race of the day race was split into two, due to mechanical failure on another car  coating the racing line in oil. Thankfully, only one racing lap had been completed and all the cars safely negotiated the spill to line up on the grid for a restart. We made a great start and achieved 7^th place after one lap, with the following laps of the race earning a steady progression through the field, resulting in us crossing the line just shy of the podium, in 4th place!

As dawn broke ready for Sundays 15 minute sprint race we were hoping for good things as we lined up in 4th place on the grid. We held position until lap 5 when until disaster struck – A radiator pipe had split and poured coolant on to the rear tyres resulting in a tremendous lack of grip. We managed to keep driving for the remaining laps but had to settle for 7th place overall.

What a fantastic weekend for SPR at Brands Hatch: 3 races and 3 top ten finishes with a superb  4^th place finish in Race 2. A big thanks to Reflex Racing for giving us such a great car and of course to all our sponsors for helping us to get to the front of the grid.

Hopefully we’ve have now clicked with the car and now feel we have the pace to run where we belong – at the front.

We look forward to seeing you at Cadwell Park in 3 weeks.

This weekend saw Rockingham Speedway playing host to rounds 3,4 and 5 of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge.

I make no bones about the fact that I really don’t like the Rockingham circuit, and by the results from this weekend it doesn’t like me either!

The weekend started off with a lovely new livery for the car after obtaining a proud sponsor – with yellow racing stripes on board we ventured into the torrential rain on Friday for a wet and almost wintery practice session. Rockingham is an almost scary track compared to others – you’re well into 3 figure speeds and just inches away from concrete barriers!

Saturday saw slightly sunnier weather, but after having the windscreen smashed by flying gravel, a mid-field qualifying position didn’t really make a great start to the weekend. The first race saw me gain 5 places in the first couple of laps, but another driver having a spin meant I ended up dropping down the grid after taking emergency measures not to wreck the car.

Sunday brought yet more sunshine and a dry track – Race 3 brought more fun and frolicks with a spin putting me back to the middle of the pack yet again, despite making up several places throughout the race, I ended up finishing in 13th place.

The last race on Sunday had everyone battling for position in the first corner, I made up places which sent me into the top 7, but by this time the car had had enough of the Rockingham Speedway circuit, and as the laps went on the cars performance dropped me further down the listings.

We suspect there is an issue with the diff or engine, so it’s over to the lads at Raceflex Racing GB to sort that one out before Brands Hatch next week.

As usual I’d like to say a huge thank you to all my sponsors that supported me: French Forest Flooring, Mike Wisher, Raceflex GB, DryMotive, Whit Bros, Steve and Jean Chesters, VRG Bodywork and YMG Construction – I really can’t do it without you.

A gallery of pics from Sunday is below, thanks to 2007bc Photography as usual!

Stuart Pearson Racing was Oulton Park last weekend for the first 3 races of the 2012 Ginetta GT5 challenge.

Friday saw a mainly dry day of practice, with all the Ginetta’s out on the track, making the best of the dry weather.

Qualifying on the Saturday morning on a damp track made tyre choices difficult, but after starting in 15th on the grid in Race 1 Stuart finished in 6th place.

Race 2 was unfortunately started from the pit lane and saw some blistering lap times as he clawed his way through the field.

Race 3 was much of the same, with Stuart working his way through the grid, until contact with Rick Parfitt Jr saw the G40 well and truly beached in the gravel at Druids – MotorsTV had a camera setup at this corner though, so it will make for great TV coverage for our sponsors..

A big thanks to Del and all the lads at Reflex racing for all their hard work this weekend and also to all our sponsors, for without them none of this would be possible….Bring on Rockingham.

Thanks to 2007bc Photography for the photos.

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What do you do when your car is already to hit the race track? Take it to the Park of course!

Nearly every Wednesday throughout the season, Mallory Park, in Leicestershire, offers half-day test sessions for race drivers (and riders). The cars take the morning session, while the bikes get the afternoon slots.

Upon our arrival to Mallory this morning, we were greeted by empty pits, empty garages and a relatively empty paddock. Whilst we unloaded the G40, tools, spare fuel and lunch, the announcer told us that rather than being a session run event (as per the norm), that the morning would be effectively run as an open pit lane, due to the low numbers of participants – just 12 cars were down to test in our morning session!

As we spent most of the morning on the track without anyone around us we had a thoroughly productive test session. The Ginetta G40 performed faultlessly, and everytime Stuart got out of the car his smile kept getting bigger and bigger.

Stuart commented that he really felt as though he had achieved a lot throughout the day, and is now looking forward to the Ginetta Media Day, at Silverstone on 5th March 2012.

Thanks to 2007bc Photography for coming along with us to get some photos of the Ginetta on the track. For a gallery of other pictures from the day, please visit the 2007bc Photography blog.

In between taking photos, 2007bc Photography also managed to put together a quick video of Stuarts’ first flying lap around Mallory Park which can be found on our YouTube channel, or by clicking on the thumbnail below:

The worst thing about replacing a car, any car is that you have to start from the bottom of the class. I’m not talking about being held back a year at school, I’m talking about become ‘at-one’ with the car – transporting it, repairing it and most importantly, driving it.

It would be very easy to assume that my old G20 is basically the same as G40, but such an assumption would render my chance at any sort of podium finish in this years’ Ginetta Challenge hopeless.

The first thing Stuart Pearson Racing did, was to start to take the car back to it’s bare bones, interior, exterior and mechanics all got a strip-down and once over. A thorough nut and bolt check was carried out and a general service of everything mechanical, or with moving parts was carried out.

Whilst the car was in bits, Dave from 2007bc Photography saw the opportunity to pop up with his camera and take a few arty HDR shots of the car – as you can see, dust and scratches are a plenty when you look closely at the photos…. that’s another job to add to the list then!

It’s been a hectic week at SPR – last week saw my old Ginetta G20 get collected by it’s new owner and I’d like to take this opportunity to wish them the very best of luck in this seasons’ Ginetta Challenge – I hope the car brings you as much enjoyment and success as it did me!

With a Ginetta sized space to fill, my garage was looking rather empty, so it’s a good job it was only a couple of days till I got a phonecall from Ginetta HQ telling me that my G40 was ready to be collected.

A busy weekend has seen me tinkering and generally trying to form a bond with the car that will form the majority of my race time over this years’ race season.

As you can see, the glorious gloss black paintwork of my new G40 is in need of some decals from supporting sponsors. If you’d like to talk to us about becoming a race sponsor, please do so by visiting our contact page.